Call for Anglo-Irish task force to deal with post-Brexit cyber security

Ireland and Britain need to form a cyber task force to deal with the fallout from the Brexit negotiations, which are "clearly failing to address the concerns of the digital community and digital borders on matters relating to cyber security and data protection", an Irish expert has said.

President of the International Cyber Threat Task Force (ICCTF) Paul C Dwyer said the Brexit discussions had so far been "light on detail regarding any implications or solutions for cyber security and data protection".

“There are concerns from the business and cyber security communities about the implications Brexit will have on existing cyber security, privacy and data-protection laws,” he said.

“Many Irish and UK businesses don’t want to bet on the negotiations between the EU and the UK going well.

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“The awareness among these businesses of the threats posed by cyber criminals is growing rapidly. The overwhelming array of sophisticated cyber-attack techniques and the sheer amount of cyber criminals combined with a potential legal impotency post-Brexit is a real concern for many businesses,” Mr Dwyer said.

“What we need is for Ireland to take the lead on this and work with the UK to establish a joint cyber task force to deal with these issues post-Brexit.

Such a body would “co-ordinate a joint cross-sector approach to tackling these issues”.

“The group would deal with the specific challenges arising from the new EU cyber legislation, Brexit and work with governments in order to protect businesses in Ireland and the UK,” Mr Dwyer added.

Mr Dwyer has set up such organisations in the past.

Online community

ICCTF was formed seven years ago as an online community of more than 4,000 business professionals from more than 100 countries with a common agenda “to defeat cyber threats of all kinds”.

Their aim is “protecting children, individuals, small businesses, NGOs, enterprises and supporting the efforts of military and the global law-enforcement community”.

Every year it runs the European Cyber Threat Summit, which it says is the largest such event of its kind in Europe.

This year's summit will take place on October 24th at the Helix at Dublin City University.

The event will explore how both cyber security professionals and business can work together “to mitigate risks and improve safety without compromising efficiency”.

It will also feature a “hackathon” session by a globally renowned team of hackers from Hungary.

Panel sessions chaired by broadcaster Miriam O’Callaghan will cover topics such as cyber opportunities with Brexit, global geopolitical developments, the future of the dark web and tackling cyber crime.